Charges Restored In Owosso Medical Pot Case

OWOSSO (AP) – The Michigan appeals court has reinstated drug charges against an Owosso man who has a medical-marijuana card and was growing pot outdoors.

Larry King was growing marijuana inside a fenced-in dog kennel. The fence was 6 feet high and locked. But in a 2-1 opinion released Friday, the appeals court says the kennel doesn’t qualify as an “enclosed, locked facility” under the medical-marijuana law.

Judges Henry William Saad and David Sawyer also say marijuana inside King’s house was in an unlocked closet. They overturned a 2009 decision to dismiss drug charges in Shiawassee County.

Appeals court Judge E. Thomas Fitzgerald disagreed. He says the medical-marijuana law should be a “shield” for King, not a “sword.”